Man Sentenced in Newington Store Clerk Attack

NEW BRITAIN — A Middletown man was given a suspended jail sentence Tuesday for punching a female store clerk in the face during an argument over 16 cents.

David Wright, 52, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault in Superior Court. Judge Hope Seeley gave him a suspended one-year sentence, plus a conditional discharge, and ordered him not to have contact with the woman.

According to prosecutor Mary Rose Palmese, Wright entered the 7-Eleven store on Willard Avenue in Newington on July 30 and went up to the counter with bananas and water. He got into an argument with the clerk over the $3.16 bill — specifically about the 16 cents — she said.

"He told her if she was going to charge him that, he would punch her in the face. He, in fact, did punch her in the face," Palmese said.

Another thing that irked him was the clerk's use of the word "honey," police said at the time.

Wright is in treatment for mental health problems and continues to make progress, said public defender Courtney A. Volz.